Search watoday:

Search in:

Travelling conman caught at Perth airport

Robyn Preston

Jerry (Gerard) Connors has been prevented from entering Australia after he was caught at Perth Airport. Felix Moorehouse (right) has also been caught.

A conman believed to belong to gang of Irish travellers has been turned away from Australia, after being caught at Perth Airport on Thursday morning.

Department of Immigration officials stopped 24-year-old Jerry (Gerard) Connors at the airport where he was served with 18 court attendance notices for numerous scams in New South Wales in 2011.

Mr Connors allegedly breached the Australian consumer law and the NSW Home Building Act and had been under the watch of a national taskforce targeting itinerant conmen.

He had previously left the country in April 2012.

Advertisement

A second man, said to belong to the same group of conmen was also prevented from entering the country at a Melbourne airport and was served with five court notices.

Felix Moorehouse, 33, left Australia in late 2011 following a raid at Base Hill Caravan Park in Sydney conducted by Fair Trading and NSW.

He was previously issued with four fines worth $1,900.

Fair Trading Commissioner Rod Stowe said both men have been on the radar of the national travelling conmen taskforce for years.

Mr Stowe said that prior to the national campaign which coordinate police and federal authorities across Australia, travelling conmen were easily able to cross national and interstate borders.

"In 2010, NSW Fair Trading Minister Anthony Roberts established this taskforce and has led a relentless national strategy against travelling conmen and we are determined to continue to track these gangs and hold them accountable for their crimes against vulnerable Australians," Mr Stowe said.